Regarding the characters in The Wailing I was clear about the old Japanese man as the devil and the girl as the godly person, but who was the Shaman?

Some say that he was a helping hand of the devil as he collected the pictures of the victim like the old man did but he carried a Gautama Buddha's statue with him. He even asked help from him to protect him, although the candle vanquished, but still was he just a shaman who was confused like the rest of the people or was he really the helping hand?

To me, it seems the Shaman was just a typical exorcist who failed to differentiate between the good and the evil. And the pictures that he collected it might be because he thought that he could learn from his mistakes.

1 Answer
1

When Jong-goo asks the shaman why his daughter has to suffer, the shaman explains that the evil throws baits just like a fisherman and random people are caught.

Afterwards when Jong-goo and his friends roll the Japanese guy down the cliff to kill him, the shaman stares at the mountains, very satisfied, he says "the fool has finally swallowed the bait" with a smile. (around 1:56:00)